Forensic expert to help find remains of IRA murder victims

THE British and Irish Governments are to appoint a forensic expert to help locate the bodies of people abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA, British Northern Secretary Peter Hain confirmed yesterday.

Mr Hain said the field of candidates included experts with experience in locating bodies in Bosnia and also those involved in murder cases in England.

He said: “We have been making progress on this crucial issue which was raised with me by Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness a few weeks ago.

“I have discussed this with Justice Minister Michael McDowell and we agreed on a new way forward, appointing an expert with forensic and archaeology experience.”

Mr Hain said it would still be some weeks before an appointment could be made and the governments would consult with the families of the disappeared who had yet to locate their loved ones’ remains. So far, the remains of only four of the nine people the IRA has admitted to abducting, murdering and burying have been recovered. They were:

* Eamonn Molloy from north Belfast, who went missing in 1975 and whose body was recovered in a coffin in an old graveyard in Faughart, Co Louth, in May 1999;

* John McClory, 18, and Brian McKinney, 22, from West Belfast, who disappeared in May 1978 and whose remains were discovered in marshlands in Cloghagh, Co Monaghan;

* Jean McConville, a 37-year-old Belfast mother of 10 who was abducted in December 1972 for treating a wounded soldier outside her home and whose remains were found in August 2003 by a man out walking at Shelling Hill Beach in Co Louth after two unsuccessful digs in the area.

The Commission for the Recovery of Victims’ Remains has failed to discover the remains of:

* Columba McVeigh, 17, from Donaghmore in Co Tyrone, who was kidnapped in October 1975 and whose body is believed to be buried in bogland in Bragan, near Emyvale, in Co Monaghan;

* Kevin McKee and Seamus Wright, both 25, who went missing from the Anderstown area of West Belfast in October 1972 and who the IRA claimed were buried at Coghallstown, near Navan in Co Meath;

* Danny McIlhone, from West Belfast, who went missing in July 1981 and whose body is believed to be at a site in Ballynultagh in Co Wicklow;

* Brendan Megraw, 24, from Twinbrook, on the outskirts of Belfast, who was abducted in April 1978 and is believed to be buried at Oristown near Kells in Co Meath.

The IRA has denied links to the disappearance of another two men from Crossmaglen in South Armagh whose families are still awaiting news of their loved ones. Gerald Evans, 24, was last seen alive in Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, in March 1979 and 57-year-old Charlie Armstrong was last seen in August 1981 after leaving his home to collect an elderly woman for Mass.

Mr Hain said both Governments were determined to get the right person for the job. “We will consult with the families of the disappeared and we hope that we will be able to bring the agony that they have suffered to an end.”